


She should have declined the offer

by DominicKnight



Series: A Year Before the End [1]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, thoughts at the end of the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 19:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10793427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DominicKnight/pseuds/DominicKnight
Summary: Elisabet thinks about some of the Alphas, and how she ended up at FAS.





	She should have declined the offer

**Author's Note:**

> Dr. Samina Ebadji is the Alpha for Apollo for those that don't remember.

Elisabet stared at the holo-projections and screens fanned across her desk. One of the corners indicated the time. She should be asleep given the late hour. Morning meant coding, meetings, calls, and conversations. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands until she saw stars in her eyelids.

The screens made her eyes burn after staring at them all day. She didn’t mind the pain knowing that the impending end of the world would be much worse.  
Her apocalypse countdown clock projected above the door of her office. She always knew how much time remained. 

Elisabet waved a hand and all the screens dimmed. She got up from her chair, and stretched as she walked to ease the stiffness in her muscles. The hallway lights brightened after switching to power saver when no one walked by in the ten minutes. 

She passed the office doors of the other Alphas. Elisabet paused at Samina’s office and peered into the dark space. The rest of the Alphas kept schedules. They insisted that Elisabet do the same. But Samina understood the weight on Elisabet’s shoulders, saw the dark lines under her eyes and the increasing number of coffee cups.

They met at a conference. Elisabet was fresh out of her PhD, presenting for the first time as such. Samina approached her after the presentation and suggested they get dinner. And that they become friends. Their industry contained few women of their caliber. Samina took it upon herself to create a network.   
Elisabet agreed, grateful for the friendship. 

That conference brought Faro into Elisabet’s life too. He saw her present and gave her his card. She received a lot of job offers that day. The instant she graduated Stanford the first time Elisabet got phone calls and emails. 

People begged her to come work for them. They offered her notoriety, fame, money. Faro offered those things too. 

Samina warned Elisabet about Faro. As Elisabet’s surrogate older sister, Samina didn’t want her to end up in a compromised situation. 

Elisabet considered everyone that attempted to wine and dine her into their company. More often than not, she listened to their pitch, finished her meal, and told them she would be in touch. Three days later she would decline. 

But there was something about Faro. Elisabet couldn’t place it then, how naïve she was at twenty.

Elisabet thought back to when she accepted Faro’s offer. She chatted with Samina to help her decide. Samina didn’t like that Elisabet planned to accept the offer from Faro, but she would support Elisabet anyway. All she asked is that Elisabet leave the instant her morals were crossed. 

She agreed to that and called Faro. He sounded excited over the phone, and perhaps relieved. 

Would they be facing the end of the world if she hadn’t accepted Faro’s offer? 

Elisabet couldn’t be sure, but in the back of her mind she knew the answer was yes. If she hadn’t joined him, someone else would. 

He wanted her because she could fix things. In her first two years at FAS Elisabet found herself catching mistakes and fixing aspects of his current products that contained flaws. As a Junior Scientist she didn’t mean to overshadow everyone else. At twenty-two she was promoted to Chief Scientist. 

Faro crossed her morals. 

And she left. 

Elisabet continued down the hallway towards her room. She could sleep for a few hours. Samina would wake her up with fresh coffee and a bagel as they talked project notes on their walk to the office.


End file.
